Ichor Medical Systems Awarded Contract for
Further Development of Broad Vaccine for Biodefense Pathogens

April 30, 2013 10:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ichor
Medical Systems (Ichor) of San Diego announced today that they have
received an $11 million contract from the US Defense Threat Reduction
Agency (DTRA). The four-year contract will fund an assessment of the
immunogenicity in humans of a broad spectrum DNA vaccine candidate
developed in collaboration with the United States Army Medical Research
Institute for infectious diseases (USAMRIID) against three strains of
equine encephalitis virus (EEV), Venezuelan (VEEV), eastern (EEEV), and
western (WEEV), delivered using Ichor’s TriGrid™ electroporation system.

The development of medical countermeasures for biodefense agents and
emerging pathogens has been identified as a priority by DTRA and related
government agencies. VEEV, WEEV, and EEEV are targets of particular
interest for vaccine development. These pathogens are listed as Category
B agents by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and are considered
important biodefense risks in part due to their stability when
aerosolized, as well as the ability to rapidly incapacitate infected
subjects. In addition, the EEV strains have potential public health
significance as sustained outbreaks of EEV have been reported in several
countries including Columbia, Venezuela, Mexico, and the US. Since there
are currently no effective therapies available for treatment of EEV
infected individuals, a vaccine could play an important role in the
event of an intentionally caused or natural outbreak.

Building on Ichor’s ongoing DTRA funded development of a monovalent VEEV
DNA vaccine candidate in collaboration with USAMRIID, the present
program will include production, non-clinical testing, and Phase I
clinical evaluation of monovalent and trivalent EEV DNA vaccine
candidates. The vaccine candidates will be delivered intradermally or
intramuscularly with the TriGrid™ electroporation system in order to
identify the most suitable immunization conditions for advancement of a
product candidate.

Bob Bernard, Ichor CEO, commented, “We are excited to continue our
collaboration with USMARIID in developing biodefense vaccines delivered
with Ichor’s TriGrid™. In addition to the direct progress made towards a
multivalent EEV vaccine, the proposed program will also contribute
platform learning that can be applied to other infectious disease
indications. Furthermore, successful demonstration of effective
multivalent immunization in humans would position the TriGrid™ favorably
for use in other broad spectrum biodefense vaccine applications.”

About Ichor Medical Systems

Ichor Medical Systems’ TriGrid™ Delivery System (TriGrid) is the first
integrated and fully automated device for electroporation-mediated DNA
administration in humans. Ichor, a privately-held biotech company based
in San Diego, CA, is collaborating with partners to provide its enabling
TriGrid platform as a means for delivery of DNA drugs and vaccines in
disease indications such as melanoma, malaria, hepatitis B virus (HBV)
infection, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, as well as for
multiple biodefense agents. For further information, visit http://www.ichorms.com.

[The information contained in this press release does not necessarily
reflect the position or the policy of the Government and no official
endorsement should be inferred.]